jamesmchapman.bsky.social
Director of PR firm Soho Communications. Former director of comms at HM Treasury. Former political editor, occasional columnist for @cityam.bsky.social. Views my own. www.sohocommunications.co.uk
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A Sorta Fairytale
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St. Vincent namechecks Tori in The Melting of the Sun, and Tori returns the favour in Cloud Riders.
St. Vincent views From the Choirgirl Hotel as a “perfect record” and sometimes consults Tori on production choices. For example, Tori suggested the scratching sounds in Flea.
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You need to listen to Scarlet’s Walk which is widely regarded as her masterpiece, along with Boys for Pele. Later songs like Reindeer King, Metal Water Wood, Climb, Oysters, Weatherman, Bang, Star Whisperer, Flowers Burn to Gold are also as good as the 90s stuff.
open.spotify.com/playlist/2Xf...
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She had a mid career dip in consistency but everything from Night of Hunters on has been terrific. Later songs like Reindeer King, Metal Water Wood, Forest of Glass, Weatherman, Climb, Star Whisperer, Bang… all as good as her 90s stuff.
Check out my playlist:
open.spotify.com/playlist/2Xf...
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Tori Amos and Imogen Heap are favourites of mine too. Also love Sufjan Stevens, Aimee Mann, Gregory Alan Isakov, Midlake, Phoebe Bridgers, Kate Bush, Fleetwood Mac, Maggie Rogers, Bjork, Jeff Buckley, St Vincent.
You might appreciate my best of Tori playlist.
open.spotify.com/playlist/2Xf...
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It’s a 10/10 album for me, so I love all of them, but this is my top 5.
1. Virginia
2. Carbon
3. A Sorta Fairytale
4. Gold Dust
5. Taxi Ride
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Blood Roses deals with similar themes (as well as the breakdown of her relationship) and is even more unsettling.
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Britain is a very open, liberal and socially relaxed place with high levels of social trust and a very pro-immigration mindset. This is what the evidence tells us. (2/2)
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It’s about female genital mutilation and violence and hatred between women, so perhaps you are picking up on the themes that inspired it.
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I made this playlist to introduce people to her. There are 18 albums and hundreds of b-sides and covers to get to know z Check it out.
open.spotify.com/playlist/0oG...
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Have you kept up with the less-well known later stuff from Tori Amos? Later tracks like Reindeer King, Weatherman, Forest of Glass, Metal Water Wood, Oysters, Star Whisperer, Climb, Flowers Burn to Gold… all as good as the 90s material.
Check out my playlist.
open.spotify.com/playlist/2Xf...
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Yes she did, as she’s done with so many other covers. My favourites are Famous Blue Raincoat, Rattlesnakes and Swimming Pools (Drank). You might appreciate my Tori covers playlist.
open.spotify.com/playlist/7o1...
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You guys might appreciate my best of Tori playlist.
open.spotify.com/playlist/2Xf...
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This is improvised too. A direct download from her Muses.
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She’s extraordinary. The complexity of the playing on pieces like Muhammad My Friend is something else. I’m not an expert but I remember Elton John saying he wished he had her left hand. Then there’s her ability to play two pianos at once!
youtu.be/Ur28B7ls71k
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Glad you like it! I have a general Tori one too.
open.spotify.com/playlist/2Xf...
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Correct. You might appreciate my Tori covers playlist.
open.spotify.com/playlist/7o1...
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Love that song. Light the sage...
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Forest of Glass, a bonus track from that album, is one of my absolute favourite Tori songs.
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I’ve always taken that line to be a reflection on her own career to date: she’s opened her veins and the bloodletting has resulted in huge success. It reminds me of Sylvia Plath’s line about the “peanut crunching crowd” buying her intensely personal poems.
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In 1996 Tori Amos said “just know that I really respect you, not as... I hate the word fans, I'd like to call you Ears with Feet, and never use the word fan again because you're Ears with Feet.” She never fully explained the name except to say she felt her fans were on a journey with her.
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Do you know Scarlet’s Walk which came a couple of albums later? For me that and Boys for Pele are her twin masterpieces.
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I have a best of Sufjan playlist too that you might appreciate! I need to check out The Mountain Goats who I don’t know at all… where’s the best place to start?
open.spotify.com/playlist/5Xe...
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For me Venus wasn’t quite on the level of her previous four, though Concertina, Josephine and Spring Haze are some of her best songs and Datura is an exceptional and very experimental piece. Overall I prefer the live disc as Tori Amos is quintessentially a live artist - she excels most on stage.
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I enjoyed reading this. I’ve always been deeply connected to and affected by music and have definitely felt your “frisson”. For me, the best artists like Tori and Sufjan Stevens somehow access a different plane in their compositions. I’m fascinated by Tori’s 11 muses she says visit her.
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You might appreciate my best of Tori playlist as a fellow fan.
open.spotify.com/playlist/2Xf...
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I think I actually prefer it to the Venus live album. Climb, Spring Haze and Code Red are the standout tracks for me.
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You guys might appreciate my best of Tori playlist. Been a fan for 33 years now!
open.spotify.com/playlist/2Xf...
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She had multiple top ten hits here in the UK too. She actually had a number one single and a number one album (something Bjork never managed).
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I thought this was going to be a story about Tori Amos being nasty (which having met her a couple of times would be very out of character) but of course it’s about how lovely she is ❤️